South Asian News Network

At the age of 95, Sam Nujoma, the liberation warrior who guided Namibia to independence from South Africa’s apartheid regime in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years, passed away. He was regarded as the nation’s father and the final in a line of African leaders who brought their nations free from white minority or colonial control. The process of national healing and reconciliation following the severe fractures brought about by the independence struggle and South Africa’s policies of splitting the nation into regional administrations based on ethnicity was attributed by many Namibians to Nujoma’s leadership. Accused of brutally suppressing opposition while in exile, Nujoma was labeled a Marxist.